The invention relates to a camera for recording television, photographic or cinematographic images, including a solid-state image sensor designed as a charge transfer device. The charge transfer device comprises a pick-up member, a storage member and a parallel-in, series-out shift register member coupled to at least one sensor output terminal. The storage and shift register members are shielded from incident light, and the pick-up member is shielded over a strip from incident light. The camera has a control circuit for the image sensor for obtaining at the sensor output terminal a picture signal having a periodical picture information associated with a scene to be recorded and a dark current information originating from below the said strip. The picture signal is obtained after a picture information integration period in the pick-up member and a charge transfer period for the transfer between pick-up member and storage member.
A camera of this type, particularly for television has been described in an English language technical publication no. 150 of the Philips Electronics Components and Materials Division, issued on Jan. 11, 1985, in which the solid-state image sensor is designed as a so-called frame-transfer sensor which is mentioned as an attractive alternative to the television camera tube. In the case of a colour recording based on the three primary colours, the shift register member has three parallel shift registers each applying a picture signal corresponding to a colour to one of three output terminals. The dark current information originating from below the said shielding strip in the pick-up member occurs in all three picture signals.
Apart from an embodiment of the control circuit for the image sensor, the said publication does not provide any circuit information relating to the required adjustments in the camera. Such adjustments are aimed at, for example, camera lens focusing, picture signal black level setting for which the dark current information is utilized, white balance setting in colour recording with three picture signals, etc.